bad

bad

synonyms, antonyms, definitions, examples & translations of bad in English

English Online Dictionary. What means bad‎? What does bad mean?

English

Pronunciation

IPA(key): /bæd/

(General Australian) IPA(key): /bæːd/

(General New Zealand) IPA(key): /bɛd/

(Singapore) IPA(key): /bɛʔ/

Rhymes: -æd

Etymology 1

From Middle Englishbad, badde(“wicked, evil, depraved”), of uncertain origin. Perhaps a shortening of Old Englishbæddel(“hermaphrodite”) (for loss of -el compare Middle English muche from Old English myċel, and Middle English wenche from Old English wenċel), from bædan(“to defile”), from Proto-Germanic*bad- (compare Old High Germanpad(“hermaphrodite”)). Alternatively, a loan from Old Norse into Middle English, compare Norwegianbad(“effort, trouble, fear”, neuter noun), East Danishbad(“damage, destruction, fight”, neuter noun), from the Proto-Germanic noun *bada- (Kroonen, Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, s.v. *badōjan-).

Adjective

bad (comparativeworse, superlativeworst)

Unfavorable; negative; not good.

Not suitable or fitting.

Not appropriate, of manners etc.

Unhealthy; liable to cause health problems.

Lard is bad for you. Smoking is bad for you, too. Grapes are bad for dogs but not for humans.

Sickly, unhealthy, unwell.

Not behaving or misbehaving; mischievous or disobedient.

Stop being bad, or you will get a spanking!

Tricky; stressful; unpleasant.

Evil; wicked.

Faulty; not functional.

(of food)Spoiled, rotten, overripe.

(of breath)Malodorous; foul.

False; counterfeit; illegitimate.

Unskilled; of limited ability; not good.

Of poor physical appearance.

(informal) Bold and daring.

(slang, dated) Good, superlative, excellent, cool.

(of a need or want) Severe, urgent.

(US, slang) Overly promiscuous, licentious.

Usage notes

The comparative badder and superlative baddest are nonstandard.

Synonyms

(not good):unfavorable, negative; see also Thesaurus:bad

(not suitable or fitting):inappropriate, unfit; see also Thesaurus:unsuitable

(not appropriate, of manners etc.):

(liable to cause health problems):unhealthful, unwholesome; see also Thesaurus:harmful

A curious specimen of Gloucestershire dialect c»me out in an assault case heard by the Gloucester court magistrates on Saturday. One of the witnesses, speaking of what a girl was doing at the time the assault took place, said she was ' badding ' walnuts in a pigstye. The word is peculiarly provincial : to ' bad ' walnuts is to strip away the husk. The walnut, too, is often called » 'bannut,' and hence the old Gloucestershire phrase, ' Come an' bad the bannuts.'

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License

This article based on an article on Wiktionary. The list of authors can be seen in the page history there. The original work has been modified. This article is distributed under the terms of this license.